Galatasaray seek Bordeaux retribution

Having dismissed their coach at the start of the week, Galatasaray AŞ will hope to avoid yet more disappointment against FC Girondins de Bordeaux when the clubs' UEFA Cup Round of 32 contest concludes in Istanbul.

• Galatasaray dismissed German coach Michael Skibbe on Monday in the wake of a humiliating 5-2 Süper Lig home defeat against second-from-bottom Kocaelispor. The 43-year-old said: "Galatasaray was an important chapter in my career and I would have liked to see that adventure finish with a happy ending. We couldn't establish a solid defensive formation and that stopped us achieving what we wanted."

• The new man in charge is 40-year-old former Galatasaray defender Bülent Korkmaz, who played for the club from 1984 to 2005, and then coached Kayseri Erciyesspor, Bursaspor and Gençlerbirliği SK. However, Cevat Güler is officially the club's coach as Korkmaz does not have the appropriate licence.

• The two sides drew 0-0 in the first leg of their tie this season, having met twice in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage, with their first fixture - and the teams' only previous meeting in Turkey - ending 0-0 in Istanbul.

• In the pair's second Group C meeting of that year's UEFA Champions League, Alejandro César Alonso, Lilian Laslandes and Julien Faubert all scored for Bordeaux prior to Arda Turan's dismissal for the visitors. Galatasaray, then coached by Erik Gerets, grabbed a 73rd-minute consolation via Junichi Inamoto.

• The two clubs also met in Group H of the 2007/08 UEFA Cup, a match Laurent Blanc's Bordeaux won 2-1 at the Stade Chaban-Delmas. Former Blackburn Rovers FC and AS Roma striker Shabani Nonda struck first from the penalty spot for coach Karl-Heinz Feldkamp's Galatasaray, only for second-half goals from Fernando Cavenaghi and Marouane Chamakh to turn the scoreline on its head.

• Bordeaux have now played a total of six competitive games against Turkish sides and their record reads W2 D3 L1. Since a 3-2 home defeat by Fenerbahçe SK in the first round of the 1985/86 European Champion Clubs' Cup, they have gone five matches unbeaten against Süper Lig clubs.

• Galatasaray's record in 16 European games against French opposition reads W5 D4 L7. Their seven home matches against Ligue 1 sides have ended W3 D3 L1.

• Bordeaux coach Blanc faced Turkish opponents only once during his playing career, the former France defender netting one of his 16 senior international goals in Les Bleus' 4-0 friendly win over Turkey on 9 October 1996 in Paris. Galatasaray coach Korkmaz was on the losing side that day in his only international game against France.

• Korkmaz played in nine games against French opposition with Galatasaray, scoring once, with his record reading W4 D1 L4. Five home games against French sides gave him the record, W3 D1 L1.

• Bordeaux defender Franck Jurietti and Galatasaray forward Nonda were team-mates at AS Monaco FC between 2000 and 2003. They played together in a 4-2 UEFA Champions League group-stage win against Galatasaray on 25 October 2000, a game in which Nonda scored Monaco's fourth goal.

• Jurietti is suspended for the game in Istanbul while team-mates Chamakh, Souleymane Diawara, Yohann Gourcuff, and Wendel are also within a booking of being banned, as are Galatasaray's Emre Aşık, Fernando Meira, Milan Baroš and Lincoln. The away side's Matthieu Chalmé is available again after a one-match suspension.

• Galatasaray have recorded W2 D3 L2 in their last seven European matches at home.

• This match will be Bordeaux's 100th in the UEFA Cup.

• Galatasaray's only UEFA club competition penalty shoot-out ended 4-1 in their favour against Arsenal FC in the final of 1999/00 UEFA Cup. The match had ended 0-0 after extra time.

• Bordeaux have been involved in two penalty shoot-outs in UEFA club competition. They beat FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 5-3 on spot-kicks after a 2-2 aggregate result in the 1984/85 European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-finals, and lost 6-5 on penalties at 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig after their 1986/87 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-final ended 1-1 overall.

• Galatasaray are one of six sides in the UEFA Cup who qualified for Europe this season as domestic champions. The others are R. Standard de Liège (Belgium), Olympiacos CFP (Greece), Aalborg BK (Denmark), FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) and FC Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia).

• Bordeaux, runners-up in France in 2007/08, qualified for the UEFA Cup Round of 32 as the third-placed side in UEFA Champions League Group A. Galatasaray, for their part, came second in UEFA Cup Group B.

• Baroš is Galatasaray's top European goalscorer this season with four, while fellow former Liverpool FC team-mate Harry Kewell has two.

• Gourcuff's two-goal haul made him the only Bordeaux player to score more than once in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• The winners of this tie will meet NEC Nijmegen or Hamburger SV in the Round of 16 on 12 and 18/19 March, playing the second leg at home.

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